so i was thinking. we're going through all the trouble of getting into our skivvies and angling the camera and cropping and tracing and obsessing, why not have a little fun (read: booze) with it?
le coquette croquis.
le pantalon croquis.
("oh, is that my ass?" shot appropriately named by nettie, patent pending. quelle naked! after my muppet bombshell shoot, i figure you've seen the goods.)
le couture croquis.
okay, yeah, i did a straight one too. this shot was actually the reason i finally broke down and did it; specifically alessa's body proportioned croquis got me off my ass and into my skivvies. it went south from there.
i used lladybird's awesome tutorial to make the oonies, but with photoshop. if you have it, you can follow her steps, but use the magic pen to select your outline, and photo filters (poster edges and stamp) to finish the job. i'll add a little tutorial to this if anyone's interested, but as photoshop is a rare creature these days i'm not sure anyone else is using it...
now really, WHO KNOWS where the top of my head is, but i marked where i thought it was hiding and barreled on. my true waist is almost a head short, which seems right, but i'm not sure i've got the high & mid hip marked properly. i think i'm equal proportions in terms of my top half/bottom half ratio. i'm like six and a quarter heads out of eight, which actually seems tall to me (the 8/8 hash mark at the bottom marks the start of the 8th head, the end mark was so far away from m'feets i didn't include it.)
et maintenant, i want to make a book of the funky ones and start sketching my own stuff! of course it would be easier to sketch on the straight version, but we don't stand around perfectly straight all day. oona, we also don't pose like a trollop all day. no, smartypants, no we don't. but we do after a few manhattans.
the only way i can think of is ditto copies and a three ring binder. but what i really want is a fancy spiral sketchbook with ruled lines on the side of every page for notes. cause i HATE it when my notes go slopey. anybody got an idea on how i could make that happen?
EDIT: so many wonderful ideas! thankyaverymuch, i'm researching like a banshee. and a tutorial is coming, i swear it won't take as long as the last one.
EDIT: so many wonderful ideas! thankyaverymuch, i'm researching like a banshee. and a tutorial is coming, i swear it won't take as long as the last one.
Oh, you girl! These are amazingly awesome. I have been working on a couple and keep closing the screen in horror---I like how I look in my head and even in photos, but somehow the line-drawings just destroy me.
ReplyDeleteI'd be curious about what you did---I bet a lot of those filters have analogs on GIMP that might be more readily accessible.
Obviously I need more booze next time I work on mine...
well i don't believe that. when i drew the face & hair all i could think of was you!
Deletein a nutshell, i:
>chose "quick selection tool" (like "magic wand" or "lasso", but better) to outline my body
>selected inverse
>filled that with white
>merged my body with the new white background
>desaturate
>brought brightness & contrast up
>in "photo filters", selected "poster edges", save
>brought brightness & contrast up
>photo filters, poster edges, brought "smoothness" down to take the graininess out, save
>photo filters, chose "stamp", that gets you the nice outline.
>use a white hard brush to get the stray dots and such out
or, time consuming option:
you can trace the shape on paper, outline it in ink, scan it, open that up in photoshop, and use the "stamp" photo filter one last time to get it perfect. guess who chose the time consuming option.
if you skip desaturation, and just use poster edges, you get what looks like a paper doll! i'm trying that next time, but my polka dot magenta bra will have to go.
Interesting... I may give that a go. I've either traced by hand (I have a pen tablet) or used Inkscape---make a quick outline with the mouse and then twiddle the nodes and handles in the vectors. Which is not too annoying. I'm good with everything until I take away the background picture, and then my world collapses...
DeleteOh I love those poses. Maybe for the sketchbook idea you could get one of those photo albums that have adhesive bits on one part of the page, and lines on the side? Some of them come in pretty fancy designs too! but you would have to draw everything out on paper first I guess....maybe you could just draw some lines when you want to write? Or write a whole load of crazy different ways to make it look like your writing is straight?
ReplyDeletehmmm... and there's a papersource right down the street... i like the crazy lines idea!
DeleteI guess some copy shops make spiral bound books of your copies. At least they do in Germany ;-)
ReplyDeleteYour drawings look awesome. I'd rather not make some of me, that would be way too Rubenesque (is that even a word?).
if it isn't a word, it should be. rubenesque is awesome in theory AND reality. you should do it!
DeleteCopy shops definitely make spiral-bound books--you could even order it online via FedEx Office or Staples' print online features and then just pick it up at your local one... I do that with little mini comic books.
DeleteSome of us do pose like trollops all day - it's called Human Resources for a reason ;) Love these - they made me laugh out loud in my cube!
ReplyDeletei was thinking of labeling these non cube appropriate!
DeleteHAHA I LOVE THESE. Work it, girl! I especially love how amazing your hair STILL looks even when it's just an outline.
ReplyDeleteNow I want to take some crazy-posed croquis shots. So jealous.
You could easily make your sketchbook idea a reality - just make a template of your digital croquis & the ruled section for notes (I'm thinking full height but maybe a quarter page in width? Leaving more room for the lil Oona to shine!), then take 'em to a copy shop & have them make a zillion copies & then spiral bind the whole thing.
you know what's ridiculous? i'm hesitant to take them to the copy shop but i frigging didn't bat an eye at putting them up ON THE INTERNET. RIDICULOUS. i should just do that.
Deletei love your poses.. excellent job.. no way in hell i gonna make something similar for myself, though.. i stick to fashoinary
ReplyDeleteI just can't croqius- it's going to look like a dimply fantasia hippo sans tutu! Can I just be happy aboput yours and skip mine?
ReplyDeleteno, no you may NOT. you go have a drink and do your fabulous croquis, and tell your mini me how glorious she is!
DeleteSnap! I've just started doing mine on Photoshop - does that make me a rare breed that I am still obsessed with PShop, or just plain weird? I'm just testing at the moment on old outfit photos but I want to take specific new photos this weekend. I'm working similar to you except that after I magic wanded my silhouette I filled with colour on a new layer then Select > Modify > Contract and deleted the inside then add in the other details with the brush/pencil tool but I like the filters you used - I've always been crap with them, I forget which one gives me the look I want ;)
ReplyDeleteSince there is a possibility you and I are Photoshop-Sisters-Separated-At-Birth you might like my tutorial here:http://thecuriouskiwi.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/tutorial-visualising-fabric-on-patterns-part-one-photoshop/
I love the Croquis! So very saucy.
ReplyDeleteAs for a notebook, I would suggest using a book binding service like Blurb (http://www.blurb.com/) or Shutterfly (http://www.shutterfly.com/). I'm not sure about a spiral binding, but I know they do a ton of binding :) How inspiring would it be to be able to whip out a bound book of your sketches, and notes (that aren't slanty!) and maybe some fabric swatches to jazz the whole thing up??
Have fun!
Sorry - this is Dayl - Didn't mean to post an annon comment!
Delete:)) i love the fabric swatches!
DeleteWoweee, I think your croquis puts all of ours to shame!!
ReplyDeleteYou are too funny, lady. Work it! LOL
ReplyDeleteUp until seeing your croquis, I was inspired but not motivated. Now I want my own little dancing self to cover in imaginary clothes. Love these!
ReplyDeleteWow, these croquis are amazing! They could only come from you.
ReplyDeletePlease please please, tutorial! I'm useless with Photoshop, so any tip I manage to grasp here and there is gold.
Oh my flip, Oona! You are AWESOME! You went and kicked some serious croquis butt! Bazinga!! Well done!!
ReplyDeleteYes, please write the tutorial. I am such a techno-peasant that I traced mine on paper with a pen. :S
Tutorial please. It will encourage me to shed the blubber. The images are FABULOSITY personified. Go Girrrrl.
ReplyDeleteOH YOUR ACTION-CROQUOIS IS SO CUTE!!!!!! Lil' cartoon nakey Oona!
ReplyDeleteI've been seeing them popping up in blogland, thought I should probably make one but I don't have PhotoShop- but I was thinking EVERYONE has PhotoShop and I was going to see if I could buy it? But its out now? What are the kids using these days instead?
Someone should make an online croquois-generator or app that posterises and outlines automatically.
not out... just 'spensive! and crochety with apple :) i love that app idea. do we know any sewing computer programmers?
DeleteStopitiloveit!!! And damn it, we were supposed to do this over the weekend, and I totally flaked. Any Kinkos will spiral bind, but girl, don't send it over the webs. Those dweebs will be printing off little Oonas for themselves.
ReplyDeleteYou can make notebooks now with Blurb: http://www.blurb.com/create/book/notebook
ReplyDelete(I've used them to make photobooks and they're good)
peeps love the blurb! i'm looking into it...
Deletebaha! Ok. Must do this. I might look like the Fantasia hippo too, but for the love of me I can't think why I should be afraid of that. The interwebs should prolly be scared.
ReplyDeleteare you crazy?! that'll be the sexiest disney character IN THE LAND.
Deletelove. this. so. much.
ReplyDeleteFor the sketch book you could always print the croquis on one side and print your own lines on the other. For the fancy part maybe see if you can track down a springback binder like this: http://www.leuchtturm1917.com/en/content/springback-binders
ReplyDeleteI love these for sketch notebooks, it makes it so much easier to accommodate different papers and fabric swatches without ring binder holes ripping out.
And you still get to keep it somewhat modular and switch things out.
oooh, i love the colors!
DeleteLUVVVVVVVV IT. I really do. I gotta nut up and make mine... I'm dreading seeing my bony ass so, well, bare.
ReplyDeleteLady, you are HILARIOUS!!!! Love it. :-)
ReplyDeleteLOOOOVE IT! You are AWESOME! And them must have been some good Manhattans..just sayin' :)
ReplyDeleteThese are the best. Because really, you need to know what that new dress pattern will look like when you're skipping coquettishly around your apartment!
ReplyDeleteNow my croquis feels like a stick in the mud... I'll have to give her a glass of wine next time I put her on parade...
ReplyDeleteAnd I forgot to mention that those print online copy shop methods I mentioned for making spiral-bound books--one option is to get it mailed to you, if you don't want to see the copy shop guys in person ogling your croquis.
P.S. By which I mean I love your dancing croquis.
Deletetotally jealous of yours. but not willing to gnash my illustrating teeth on my own!
DeleteAlright, it's final - you are the cutest thing ever! Who else would have spiced up their croqui like this! So awesome. My favorite is the second one with your leg up and your finger at your mouth - I'm afraid I'm going to have to copy your pose.
ReplyDeleteYes, spiral bind these and go sit at Intelligensia and sketch.
oh that's the best reason to do it EVER.
DeleteOh Oona, how fun are these croquis. They look great. Loving the hair. I used Photoshop too, however, your method seems much faster than the method I used (Pen tool).
ReplyDeleteI think I was more bashful having my picture taken in class for the croquis over posting them online. Odd indeed and my classmates are really awesome, positive ladies.
It was very nice meeting you this weekend.
it was great to meet you trice! it's hard to take photos with an audience, i think. i do much better by myself :)
DeleteThese are super cute! I love the sassy poses of the croquis up top.
ReplyDeleteYou've definitely inspired me to at least try my hand at the croquis. Photoshop is still out there, it's still the industry standard and I still use it all the time at work.
So cute! So inspiring! MUST DO THIS!
ReplyDeleteOoh Oona!! These are fantastic!! I do use photoshop, not very successfully though, and would LOVE a tutorial. I used LLADYBIRDs as well, but it sounds like you've found some good shortcuts, and frankly, I could use help, because my croqois is not awesome.
ReplyDeletethis is soo fun!! i've been seeing people make their croquis, but yours the best! i really have to give this a try..;)
ReplyDeleteOona, phone call didn't go through, please try again I'd love to do crafty stuff and show you other fun things in LA.
ReplyDeleteLeah
i've emailed you!
DeleteThese are so wonderful. I must drink up and strip down soon!
ReplyDeleteYEs, and YES.
DeleteSo inspiring!! I need one croquis!!!
ReplyDeleteOooh, I love them! My straight croquis is nice enough for sketching, but yours look like they could fill an entire comic strip of dressy goodness - so much fun!
ReplyDeleteYou are a hoot girl! I had such a laugh at your croqui poses. I think i need to make my own.
ReplyDeleteI love your croquis! You are the best and funniest! I am working on my own but they are much more dull.
ReplyDeleteThanks much for the instructions and link. Extremely helpful.
ReplyDelete